The clan politics of ARMM Ampatuans, web of kin warp Maguindanao polls By Ed Lingao Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism First of Three Parts DATU HOFFER, Maguindanao – This municipality is just a kilometer or so from the capitol, but it barely looks like a town. Bereft of any paved roads, it has a scattering of huts around hillsides. There is no town center, no business and commercial establishments, and the municipal hall sits alone on a hilltop – gleaming white cement and grey granite, obviously new, yet seemingly unused. There is no activity that one would associate with the governance of any regular municipality. That‟s because as far as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is concerned, Datu Hoffer is one of many newly minted towns of Maguindanao in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that should not even be called a town. Datu Hoffer was created by the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly in 2009 by virtue of Muslim Mindanao Act 220, with a population of 22,000. But DBM has refused to release any internal revenue allotment (IRA) for Datu Hoffer and nine more towns in Maguindanao because their populations fall below the 25,000 residents required by the DBM to qualify for IRA. In other words, the municipal government of Datu Hoffer gets no revenues from the national government, and has to subsist on whatever taxes or revenues it can raise by itself from the smattering of homes on the hillsides surrounding the town hall. Yet the upcoming elections will see an all-out battle among members of the Ampatuan clan over Datu Hoffer, where among the few means of livelihood is “professional evacuation,” or living off relief goods. Ampatuan lair Incumbent Mayor Johaira “BongBong” Midtimbang Ampatuan, is running for a second term under the opposition Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN). Ampatuan is the wife of Zaldy Uy Ampatuan, the former Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and one of the co-accused in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre. Running against Johaira is a distant relative, Liberal Party (LP) bet Yamashita Mangacop, who says he is related to both the Ampatuans and their main political rival, the Mangudadatus. Page 1 of 32 Ampatuans are also running against each other for the position of vice mayor: Johaira‟s daughter Nor-Aila Ampatuan is also running under the PDP-Laban, while Mhurphy Ampatuan is running under the LP slate. Mhurphy is a second cousin of Johaira‟s husband, Zaldy. For some, it is a paradox why members of just one clan would fight over a backward municipality that is barely as big as a barangay, with no infrastructure to begin with, and with no IRA to support it. Yet the scene is replicated in many other parts of Maguindanao, the second poorest of the 80 provinces in the Philippines, and one long ruled with an iron fist by a family that has extended its influence well beyond the boundaries of Central Mindanao. To a lesser degree, it is also replicated elsewhere in the Philippines, where families are poised to take over every corner of what they see as their “territory,” from barangay level and even up to the halls of Congress. The race for positions is not just a race to capture any potential resources due the local government such as the IRA. Especially in Maguindanao, more than anything, it is to capture the most basic resource of any community, that one resource that gives any datu or sultan his real source of power, prestige before his peers, and legitimacy in politics: his constituency or his following. Royal right to rule? The datu system that distinguishes Muslim Mindanao politics from that of the rest of the country continues to serve as a historical and cultural touchstone of the many clans that claim royal blood and accordingly the right to rule. But Ishak Mastura, former ARMM trade secretary and a member of one of the major royal families of Maguindanao, clarifies, "The datu cannot be a datu without a following. If you say you are a datu, are you just a datu by blood or by lineage? But if you have no following, then you are a very minor datu, you are a footnote datu." The significance of the following grows exponentially every three years, when local governments hold elections, and every six years, when national leaders cast their nets wide looking for local leaders who can bring in the numbers needed to swing the national vote. In Maguindanao, this was best shown during 2004 and 2007, when Andal Ampatuan Sr. guaranteed then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her senatorial lineup magnificent electoral margins in the province to offset the popularity of her rival. In 2004, Arroyo received statistically improbable numbers in Maguindanao. In at least two towns in the province, Arroyo won all the votes cast in the election, while the hugely popular Fernando Poe Jr. got zero votes. Andal Sr. had also promised a 12-0 sweep for Arroyo‟s senatorial lineup, and he delivered. In return, the Arroyo administration endorsed the rule of the clan whenever its interests intersected with that of the government in power. In doing so, Manila allowed clan politics and clan dynamics to become a necessary part of the relationship between the local families and the national government leadership. This in turn led to the erosion of governance institutions that Page 2 of 32 should have empowered constituencies, enriched debate, and leveled the playing field for new ideas and new personalities. Stats outlier Indeed, it has come to a point in which clans vie for elected positions, not so much to govern areas but to command both manpower and resources with which to gather the votes for Manila. The after effects of this cycle can still be felt now: a free-for-all where clan members battle each other or rival clans for both the political and financial spoils in areas where governance and checks and balance have long been compromised or weakened by these same clans. To partly understand how the Ampatuan patriarch – now in detention as one of the accused in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre – may have fulfilled his promise to Arroyo, one can take a look at the town of Shariff Aguak, a third-class municipality that is also the capital of Maguindanao province. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), Shariff Aguak had 34,376 residents as of 2010, when the NSO last conducted a census. Yet in the 2010 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that the town had 33,684 registered voters. If these official numbers are accurate, this means that of the entire population of Shariff Aguak, only 692 people were not eligible to vote. The other 97.9 percent of the population, apparently all infused with civic duty, are duly registered voters; practically all of them also turn out for elections as evidenced by Maguindanao‟s unusually high voter turnout of 97.6 percent. The town‟s voters, however, may have little choice regarding the individuals they can put into local posts. For the May 2013 elections, 21 candidates with the surname Ampatuan are running for public office in Shariff Aguak. Three of the four mayoralty candidates are Ampatuans: Zahara Ampatuan (Partido ng Masang Pilipino, or PMP), Sarip Ampatuan (LP), and Rowella Ampatuan (Ind). Two of the vice mayoralty candidates are also Ampatuans: Marop Ampatuan (PMP), Mohamad Akmad Ampatuan (Ind). Of the 48 candidates running for a seat in the town council of Shariff Aguak, 17 candidates answer to the name Ampatuan. Voters in excess In adjacent Datu Unsay town, the situation is even more confounding: There are more registered voters in the town (13,584 voters in 2010, according to the Comelec) than there are people (12,490 residents, according to the 2010 NSO census). An Ampatuan is running for mayor, vice mayor, and councilor there as well. “The Ampatuan clan is very large,” says Johaira Ampatuan, explaining why it is inevitable that Ampatuans will run against each other in elections. “In 2010, there were a lot of us running, there were nine of us who are incumbent mayors.” In December 2012, the Commission on Elections delisted over 280,000 voters in ARMM or about a fifth of the region‟s previous total of 1.82 million voters in 2010. A new general Page 3 of 32 registration in July 2012 required the region‟s voters to re-register. Over 33,000 applicants were found to be minors while the other had registered multiple times at various precincts. “In fact,” she says, “ in 2010, I did not have an opponent. It is only now that I have one. I would say that maybe he (Mangacop) is here to help me with my problem in Datu Hoffer, and for that I thank him.” Mangacop himself tells PCIJ, “You know, here in Maguindanao, it‟s just not possible for relatives not to end up running against one another.” He also says there are three requirements for a candidate to win in Maguindanao: “A strong candidate; secondly, an influential candidate; and lastly, he belongs to a family of the people.” Then he adds, almost as an afterthought, “Perhaps it is the platform that our people should be looking at.” Connected clans For sure, though, Maguindanao has other clans of power, aside from the Ampatuans. In fact, Comelec‟s official list of candidates for the 2013 elections reads like a who‟s who of Maguindanao‟s royal families, although the Ampatuans still top the roster, with 73 people carrying Ampatuan as their middle or last name.